


Wake Up

by Wyvernia



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Spirit Healer Anders, hurt/comfort I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 15:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4672145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wyvernia/pseuds/Wyvernia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short fluffy thing where young Anders begins to discover what it means to be a Spirit Healer, and Karl worries about him.</p><p>Karl's just a little older than Anders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake Up

"Wake up," someone said.

Anders opened his eyes to a cluster of familiar faces that materialized on top of him. He was on the floor, surrounded by other apprentices, their expressions ranging from concern to amazement to mild amusement. Karl was kneeling by his side, clearly distraught by whatever was going on. That was unusual and slightly alarming. Behind him was Enchanter Wynne, gazing down at him with a stern look. This was unsurprising. She usually acted like she had a staff up her ass, after all.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Anders would have asked, had his tongue deigned to obey him.

Wynne dispersed the small crowd with a quick gesture. "Class dismissed," she said. Or something. The apprentices complied. Only Karl remained behind, ignoring the order. Wynne hesitated before deciding having Karl around was a good idea for the time being.

"Anders?" Karl asked. Anders tried to respond, but he still couldn’t bring himself to make a coherent sound, so Karl turned to Wynne. “Will he be okay?”

“Yes. It will pass. He overdid it.”

What were they talking about?

It came back to him slowly. They were supposed to be practicing simple healing spells. For this purpose, they had gone to visit the quarters of some elderly Senior Enchanter Wynne had been treating. This was to be a lesson on how to identify illnesses to better ease someone’s pain.

Wynne had asked Anders to try his hand at it. He remembered focusing on the task assigned, as instructed. It didn’t take him long to find the root cause of the pain, hiding in the insides, its claws sinking into the organs, the aching bleeding into the limbs. With this came the bitter realization that easing the pain would be nothing but a temporary solution.

He wished there was something else he could do, and the sudden certainty that he had the power to do more came to him like a whisper. He had heard this voice before, in dreams. It was a soothing murmur that offered everything and requested nothing in exchange. It guided him through untying the knots that kept the disease attached to the body. It took time. Wynne didn't notice at first, as she was too busy answering some other apprentices’ questions. By the time she saw what was happening, Anders was too deep into his endeavor to even realize she was asking him to stop. He wouldn't have stopped, anyway. He needed just a little bit more time.

Next thing he knew, he was on the floor, class was over and Karl was silently freaking out. So maybe he should have stopped. Or maybe not. The room spun around him when tried to sit up, black dots clouding his vision. Not good. Karl was there to hold him, though. His shoulder seemed like a good place to rest.

"Can you help him to his quarters? I will go check on him in a short while."

That was Wynne’s voice. She said some other things too. Karl was asking her questions. Anders wasn’t sure what they were talking about. He just wanted to sleep, and that's what he did. He dreamt of the voice. It told him how proud it was of him, and how sorry about miscalculating the limits of a human body. It didn’t mean him any harm. They could learn to better work together, if he wished. 

Later, the Senior Enchanter who had served as the patient visited Anders in his quarters. There were tears in her eyes when she thanked him. Wynne was there too, a stiff smile across her face as she patiently waited for her chance to scold him. And when they were alone that’s exactly what she did, though she was far much gentler and understanding than he had anticipated. They would need to have a conversation, she said. He wasn’t looking forward to that, so he pretended to be too exhausted to do anything but lie down on his bed. It was a lie that wasn’t far from reality, anyway.

"She was impressed," Karl said when Wynne left. ”I heard them talking. You channeled a powerful spirit from the Fade. The Senior Enchanter’s disease is gone.”

“For real? So she’s alright now?”

“It seems so. As much as an old woman can be.”

Anders made a disgruntled noise. “I don’t want to grow old in the Circle.”

Karl looked around to make sure they were not being observed and spoke softly. “You and I both know that won’t happen.”

They looked into each other’s eyes, knowing they needed to say no more. Anders lifted an arm to touch Karl’s lips and smiled. “You’re the one good thing about this place.”

Karl pressed Anders’ hand against his lips. “Enchanter Wynne said you fainted because you went too far. Once you learn how to control the channeling, you should be okay.”

“But it worked just fine, didn’t it?”

“You have a gift,” Karl said. He made a pause before continuing. “Anders, you are a gift. Do you think you could be more careful with this from now on?”

Easier said than done, but Anders couldn't bear to look at Karl's pained expression, so he promised. Karl rewarded him with a furtive kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> The original plan was for this to have two parts, one in the past with Kanders and another one in the future with Handers.
> 
> And I don't think Wynne would have been very mean to Anders in a situation like this, but this shows Anders' POV and he'd probably see her like that.


End file.
